Singer-songwriter Previte was the lead singer of the band Franke and the Knockouts. He had success with the song "Sweetheart" in 1981, but by 1986 was without a recording contract. In late 1986 or early 1987, producer and head of Millennium Records, Jimmy Ienner, asked Previte about writing some music for "a little movie called Dirty Dancing". Previte initially turned the request down because he was still trying to get a record deal,[2] but Ienner was persistent, and got Previte to write several songs for the film, including "Hungry Eyes", later recorded by singer Eric Carmen, which also became a top 10 hit.

Previte wrote the lyrics, and the music was written by John DeNicola and Don Markowitz. After getting further approval, Previte created a demo of the song, performing on it himself, along with singer Rachele Cappelli. The demo showcased how the harmonies were to be used, employing a "cold open", or a slow build-up of the song to its finale. This demo wasn't used in the final cut of the film − the more polished version with Warnes and Medley was. However, because the Warnes/Medley track was not ready by the time the finale was filmed (it was shot first, due to the tight budget), Previte and Capelli's much lighter and more youthful version was used as a backing track, so that the actors, Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey, and the dancers, could have something to dance to (Swayze had later remarked it was his favorite version, even including all the subsequent remakes). The demo version finally appeared on the 1998 CD reissue of Previte's 1981 album Franke and the Knockouts, but is only listed as "Bonus Track".

The song was initially intended for Donna Summer and Joe Esposito, but Summer turned it down because she didn't like the title of the film.[3] Bill Medley was approached by Jimmy Ienner repeatedly over two months to do the recording, but he also turned it down because his daughter McKenna was due to be born, and he had promised his wife he would be there.[4] After the birth of his daughter, Medley was approached again, because Jennifer Warnes had indicated she would record the song if she could do the duet with Medley.[5] Medley then agreed to record the track. With the release of the film it became a worldwide hit, and is one of the most frequently played songs on radio.

In the United States, the single topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart in November 1987 for one week and also reached number one on the Adult Contemporary for four weeks.[6] In the United Kingdom the song had two chart outings: in November 1987, after the film's initial release, the song peaked at No. 6;[1] in January 1991, after the film was shown on mainstream television, the song reached No. 8.[7]

In the Major Crimes episode "There's No Place Like Home", a suspect's alibi was that he was doing the song karaoke. The Major Crimes squad watched his performance for a minute but quickly shut it off when the suspect started dancing. At the end of the episode, the credits were played over a scene of the man singing and dancing to the song with a partner rather than the regular black screen.

Near the end of the 2017 horror film Get Out, the character Rose Armitage (Allison Williams) listens to the song while eating a bowl of Froot Loops and scanning internet dating websites for her family's next victim.